Limited Editions Club (LEC)
The Limited Editions Club (LEC) is a renowned publisher of finely crafted, limited-edition books, specializing in beautifully illustrated and designed editions of literary classics and significant works.
Founded in 1929 by George Macy in New York, the club launched amid the stock market crash but persevered through the Great Depression, World War II, and beyond. It operated as a subscription-based service, typically releasing 10–12 titles per year. Each book was produced in a limited run—most commonly 1,500 numbered copies (signed by the illustrator or other contributors in many cases)—featuring high-quality printing, original illustrations (often by prominent artists), fine bindings, and expert typography.
Under Macy’s leadership (until his death in 1956), the LEC emphasized affordability for subscribers while commissioning work from notable illustrators and artists such as Henri Matisse (e.g., Ulysses by James Joyce, 1935), Pablo Picasso (Lysistrata by Aristophanes, 1934), Salvador Dalí, Rockwell Kent, and many others. After Macy, his widow Helen managed it briefly, followed by ownership changes (including Boise Cascade in the 1970s). In 1978, Sidney Shiff took over, shifting toward smaller, higher-priced editions with even more elaborate production.
The club published around 589 titles total from 1929 until its last new releases around 2010. It remains celebrated among book collectors and fine press enthusiasts for its artistic collaborations and production quality.
The best places to find Limited Editions Club (LEC) books online are:
eBay Books
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Limited Editions Club Three Cornered Hat 1959, Roger Duvoisin Signed LEC Fine
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LEC Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Limited Editions Club Signed 1956
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LEC 1970 Jules Verne Around The Earth Moon Limited Editions Club Signed Book 2vl
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Trollope’s Barchester Towers 1958 Limited Editions Club Signed #510/1500 LEC
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1973 Dumas Queen’s Necklace SIGNED Limited Editions Club LEC #734 Slipcase
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Egyptian Book of the Dead Limited Editions Club LEC 2-Vol Set 1972 HC Slipcase
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Three Men In A Boat - Jerome K. Jerome Limited Editions Club (LEC) 1975 HC
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1941 Limited Editions Club LEC Stevenson TREASURE ISLAND Signed, Monthly Letter
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The Short Stories of Charles Dickens 1971 Limited Editions Club 747/1500 LEC
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Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson Limited Editions Club Signed Numbered LEC
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Miguel Covarrubias SIGNED LTD Typee by Herman Melville LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB LEC
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Jaunts And Jollities John Jorrocks Limited Editions Club Signed Number 1932 LEC
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Limited Editions Club~Leo Tolstoy~Childhood Boyhood Youth~1972 LEC Signed 1500
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The Prairie LEC 1940 Signed John Steuart Curry #1246/1500 Limited Editions Club
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Limited Editions Club Leather Bound Illustrated The Book of Job, illus. Szyk
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Pilgrim's Progress Bunyan William Blake 1941 LEC Limited Editions Club #842
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FINE Man Without A Country Edward Everett Hale Limited Editions Club LEC Signed
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LEC 1974 Feodor Dostoevsky A Raw Youth Limited Editions Club Signed Book 2vol
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SIGNED The Pilot James Fenimore Cooper Limited Editions Club 1968 LEC w/ Letter
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1977 Limited Editions Club SIGNED LEC Memoirs of Fox-Hunting Man SASSOON Letter
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Dickens Signed American Notes Limited Editions Club Hardcover Slipcase Mint
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Innocent Voyage Richard Hughes Limited Editions Club LEC 1944 Lynd Ward 677/1500
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Egyptian Book Of The Dead 1972 Limited Editions Club LEC 2-Volume Set
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LEC 1976 Robert Louis Stevenson Arabian Nights Limited Editions Club Signed Book
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Lot 2 LEC Limited Editions Club Eugene O'Neill Ah, Wilderness Stirnweis Signed
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LEC 1979 The Lyrical Poems Of Francois Villon Limited Editions Club Signed Book
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THE JUNGLE by Upton Sinclair ~ Signed limited Ed. ~ Limited Editions Club LEC
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Tales of Soldiers & Civilians Ambrose Bierce Landacre Limited Editions Club LEC
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The Odyssey Homer LEC 1981 Signed Barry Moser Wilson #1935/2000 Slipcase
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SIGNED Tegner FRITHIOF'S SAGA Limited Editions Club (LEC) 1953 HC SLIPCOVER
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Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front LEC 1969 Signed John Groth Slipcase
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Walden 1936 Henry Thoreau Limited Editions Club Signed Edward Steichen
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Limited Editions Club Three Cornered Hat 1959, Roger Duvoisin Signed LEC #1111
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1973 LEC Oscar Wilde Lady Fan Limited Editions Club Signed By Tony Walton Book
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Through the Looking-Glass ~ LEWIS CARROLL Limited Editions Club SIGNED Alice LEC
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Ovid The Art of Love Limited Editions Club Signed and Numbered #787/1500 LEC
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Russian Literature Book Anton Chekhov Two Plays Limited Editions Club LEC 1966
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Limited Editions Club LEC Prospectus Seventh Series 1935-1936 C51
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LEC Limited Editions Club JUDE THE OBSCURE 25 /1500, illustrator signed, engravi
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Hans Christian Andersen Maker of Fairy Tales Vol 1 1942 Limited Editions Club
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LEC 1977 Victor Hugo The Battle Of Waterloo Limited Editions Club Signed Book
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Resurrection Leo Tolstoy Limited Editions Club Signed Eichenberg
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The Last Days of Pompeii LEC 1956 Limited Editions Club #662 Signed Slipcase Ill
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A Code For The Collector of Beautiful Books ~ The Limited Editions Club ~ Warde
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PROSPECTUS OF FINE BOOKS TO BE PUBLISHED BY THE LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB
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The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor (1949) The Limited Editions Club
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🎃1985 Limited Editions Club, Poe- The Fall of the House of Usher art Alice Neel
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LEC Limited Editions Club Yeats IRISH FOLK TALES 25/2000 Artist signed,
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The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett ~ Limited Editions Club
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1935, Green Mansions by WH Hudson, Limited Editions Club LEC, Artist Signed
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